Trautvetter, Rudolf.

Trautvetter, Rudolf, born 17-08-1891 in Goldap, the son of a Oberstleutnant, entered the Army on 01-10-1912 as volunteer, age 21. As son of a former Oberstleutnant he joined the 4^th Niederschlesisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 51

and promoted to Aspirant Officer in the summer of 1913, retired and attached to the Reserve on 01-10-1913. With the beginning of the first war he was activated in the Army with the II. MG-Ersatz-Kompanie of the XXI. Armeekorps, under command of General der Infanterie Fritz von Below. Below died in Weimar on 23-11-1918, age 65, shortly after Germany had signed the armistice. He is buried in the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery in Berlin. Trautvetter was in the fields of war, promoted to Leutnant and from September 1916 appointed as commander of the 1^st MG Company of the Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 118. At the beginning of February 1917 he landed wounded in hospital in Kessel . He started a pilot training on 01-11-1917 and came to the Flight Observer School in Stolp and ended he war as an Observer with the 6^th Fighter Squadron. He was retired after the war as an Oberleutnant of the Reserve. He had a civil job in a Aluminium Factory in Bitterfeld and Lauta and married Martha Handrick on 14-02-1921. He was commander of different pilot schools.

He switched to industry and worked for Deutsche Luftfahrt GmbH from 01-01-1927. From 01-03-1931 he headed the civil aviation school in Böblingen and joined the NSDAP in March 1933 after the National Socialists came to power.. With the outbreak of World War II he as Major was the commander of the Fliegerhorst Command Berlin-Staaken. Promoted to Oberst on 01-11-1940 and on 01-08-1941 appointed to commander of the Kampfgeschwader z.b.V. 1 . Lost this command again in December 1941 and became commander of the  Kampfgeschwader z.b.V. 2. He again lost his command and now assigned as commander of the Blind Flight Schools in April 1942 and on 01-05-1943 as Higher Commander of the Blind Flight Schools. He was appointed to commander of the 2^nd Flyer School Division in Neuruppin, on 01-11-1943 and promoted to Generalmajor on 01-03-1944 in this position. Trautvetter received the German Cross in Silber  on 26-03-1944 and lost his command  in January 1945 and landed in the Führer Reserve (see Adolf Hitler). Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun‘s

ashes are scattered from the Schweinebrücke over the river Ehle in Biederitz.  Trautvetter’s last command was as commander of the Airport Region 4/III, in Döberitz from February 1945 and he was captured by the West Allied Forces in Mai 1945.

Oberleutnant of the reserve a. D. Trautvetter married his fiancée Martha Handrick on 14-02-1921. The marriage gave birth to (at least) three children: Hubert, Rudi and Gisela (1927–1994), who later married von zur Mühlen. The family was expelled from the Reichenbach district in the Owl Mountains by the Red Army in the last year of the war. The family built up a new existence in the west and last lived in Celle at Witzlebenstrasse 91.

Death and burial ground of Trautvetter, Rudolf.

Released in March 1948 he retired in Celle and he became honorary president of the DVS comradeship together with Fritz Morzik, Friedrich-Wilhelm “Fritz” Morzik   (* 10-12-1891 in Passenheim; † 17-06-1985, age 93, in Freudenstadt) was a German pilot, flight instructor and, with the rank of Generalmajor, commander of German transport pilots in World War II.

Trautvetter at the very old age of 90 died, on 19-03-1982. Trautvetter is buried with his wife Martha, who died old age 94, on 29-07-1996 and daughter Gisela, married, von zur Mühle, who died age 66, on 26-07-1994, on the Waldfriedhof of Celle.H

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